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Provo City Half Marathon

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15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

South Weber,UT,

Member Since:

May 09, 2012

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Personal Records:

800 Meters 1:50.14 (Track-BYU)

1500 Meters 3:42.07 (Track-Stanford) Likely the best race of my life; converts to a 3:59.85 Mile

5000 Meters 14:20 (Track-Stanford)

8000 Meters 23:53 (Cross Country-Pre Nationals Iowa)

10000 Meters 29:57 (Track-Stanford)

Half Marathon (Mesa-Phoenix Half) 1:05:11

Marathon (St George) 2:16:09

Short-Term Running Goals:

2017 Races:

Mesa-Phoenix Half - 3rd Place 1:05:11 PR

Ogden WRC 10-Miler - 1st Place 55:46

Provo City Half - 1st Place 1:06:33

Ogden Marathon - 2nd Place 2:25:46

Long-Term Running Goals:

My main goal is just to stay healthy.  I was injured every year in my college career except for one.  I would like to reverse that trend and always stay injury-free.

 

Personal:

I am a family man.  I am married to my beautiful wife Amy (who also ran at Weber and is quite the runner).  We have four beautiful daughters named Evelyn (6 years old), Hannah (4 year old), Nora (2 year old), and Iris (5 months).

Twitter handle: @RunnerRiley7

Instagram RunnerRiley7

I am supported by Brooks

I am a Generation Ucan elite athlete

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Salomon Pro Wings 2 Lifetime Miles: 161.10
Brooks PureCadence 5 Lifetime Miles: 101.85
Brooks Adrenaline 17 Lifetime Miles: 161.85
Brooks Transcend 4 Lifetime Miles: 219.45
Brooks Ravenna 8 Lifetime Miles: 225.10
Brooks PureCadence 6 Lifetime Miles: 188.10
Brooks Launch 4 Lifetime Miles: 107.50
Brooks Glycerin 14 Lifetime Miles: 101.47
Brooks Hyperion Lifetime Miles: 92.13
Brooks Caldera Lifetime Miles: 31.10
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
202.6018.2534.2011.50266.55
Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 80.33Asics 2170 Miles: 111.13Saucony Fastwich (Green) Miles: 32.85
Weight: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.002.000.000.007.00

Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.540.000.000.003.54

Weight: 0.00
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Race: Provo City Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:07:55, Place overall: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.600.0013.100.0019.70

Pretty sure mile markers were off, but splits according to mile markers: 5:03 4:50 5:05 4:49 4:53 5:08 5:03 5:14 5:15 5:18 5:14 5:14 5:26 and 1:24 for last tenth (like I said they had to be inaccurate)

Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.954.200.000.0010.15

AM 3.85 Miles @ 7:01 Pace.  Legs feel pretty recovered from Saturday's Half

PM 6.3 Miles @ 5:46 Pace.  4.2 Mile Tempo in middle of run on the old South Weber 10K course, which is still marked.  Splits: 5:20 (downhill) 5:32 (uphill) 5:20 5:08 and 1:14 (.2)

I think this was a good Monday workout after a race weekend.  The legs felt a bit heavy in the first mile of the tempo, but then they loosened up and felt great toward the end. 

While this was a good workout, I need more hard workouts with sub-5:00 pace and plan to accomplish that later in week.

Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 10.15
Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

AM 10 Miles @ 6:51 Pace.  Met Bret at 5:30 at the Riverdale Parkway to get in an easy 10 miles before work.  Legs were a bit tired from yesterday's double and tempo.

PM 4 Miles @ 7:01 Pace.  Nice easy run on base perimeter road, the usual.  Just wanted to loosen the legs up and log a few extra easy miles.

Asics 2170 Miles: 14.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.000.000.007.7510.75

2 mile warmup with strides

Big Workout.  As punishment for allowing myself to age yet one more year, I did a 400 meter repeat for every year old I am (31 as of today).  The goal was to average 70 seconds per repeat.  I varied the rest, starting at 70 seconds, then dropping slowly down to 61 seconds.  I quickly realized there's a huge difference between 70 rest and 61, so I moved it back up to 70 and eventually 75 for the last five reps.  Here are the splits: 71.6 66.8 68.7 71.3 70.2 70.2 68.9 69.9 69.2 69.0 69.7 70.4 72 69.8 69.2 72.2 (these 72s were when I lowered the rest to 61 second range) 70.6 70.1 68.2 70.4 69.9 68.6 69.2 70.8 69.3 70.1 68.8 69.6 70.5 70.0 and 67.0  Average: 69.7 Average Rest: 69.6

1 mile cooldown is all I had time for, as my family was waiting for me to go out to dinner. 

I am happy with this workout; it's the second most 400 reps I've ever done. I had a hard time finding and locking into 70 pace for the first few.

I did the run in the afternoon heat and it was a bit rough.  I weighed in this morning at 151.5 and after this afternoon workout I was 146, so I lost some serious water weight in this workout.

 

Saucony Fastwich (Green) Miles: 7.75Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 3.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(9)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

6 miles easy on base perimeter road @ 6:50 pace.  My legs are definitely fatigued from yesterday's workout (more so than from any of the half marathons I've raced lately). 

Asics 2170 Miles: 6.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

6 Miles @ 6:29 pace.  Same route as yesterday.  My legs still felt fatigued at the start of the run, but felt pretty good toward the end.

Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 6.00
Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.505.000.500.0013.00

13 Miles @ 6:01 avg pace.  The plan was to do 17 miles with 7.5 miles @ 5:30 pace, but I ran out of time.  My wife is out of town for a funeral and my sister could only watch my daughter until 10:45, and I simply didn't get started on my run soon enough.  But it was still a good run. 

Met Ken Richardson, my brother Jared, and his friend Delia at 8:05 to carpool up to Morgan Valley, where we planned to run on some rolling hills.  We dropped Jared and Delia off at the start to give them a headstart and then Ken and I dropped a car off 7 miles out.  Finally, Ken and I got started and Ken ran the first 7 miles with me to his car.  We ran that stretch in 45:09.  He stopped there, as he only planned on 7, and picked up Jared and Delia.  Then the three of them drove alongside me for the next 6 miles.  I ran a 5.5 mile tempo on this stretch with splits of 526 524 531 (this mile was interrupted by a huge herd of cattle that took up the entire road! I thought I was going to get trampled!) 527 530 and 229 for the last 0.5 followed by 0.5 mile cooldown.  Then I raced back to pick up my daughter just in the nick of time.  Then we all went and got a nice breakfast...great morning.

Asics 2170 Miles: 13.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.0011.50

AM: 3 miles easy on the treadmill @ 6:50 pace.  I hate the treadmill, it's sooo boring.  But I didn't really have other options this morning. 

AM Part 2: 8.5 Miles @ 6:23 pace. Right after I got done with my treadmill run and showered, my brother called with a generous offer to push Evelyn (my daughter) on his run with my sister so I could get a run in.  So, I couldn't turn that down.  So, I got two runs in this morning (well late morning anyway) and may just call that good for the day.  It was pretty hot out and I don't often run shirtless, but I did today and I got burned pretty good!

Today is my third day of being essentially a single parent until my wife gets back in town tomorrow and it's hard to get good runs in.  I have a new found respect for single parents and how well they have to manage their time!

Asics 2170 Miles: 3.00Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 8.50
Weight: 0.00
Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.300.000.000.0013.30

AM: 9.25 miles @ 7:00 pace. Met up with Ben, Bret, and Bryant in North Ogden to get an easy run in.  Bret and I met early to get some extra time in before meeting Ben and Bryant.  It was a good, enjoyable easy run.

In other news, looks like three of my siblings and my mother got into the St. George Marathon, so it's going to be a family party!

PM: 4.05 miles @ 6:46 pace.  Just an easy stroll through my neighborhood once the heat died down.

Asics 2170 Miles: 4.05Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 9.25
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.000.003.000.008.00

8 miles @ 6:06 average pace.  I ran the base perimeter road, out and back.  I did 6 half-mile intervals during the run with half-mile easy run in between.  First three were uphill and into a headwind from Weber Canyon; last three were downhill with a tailwind.  I wanted to run these in about 2:30-2:35 pace (just slightly faster than half marathon goal pace).  Splits were 2:31 2:40 2:35 2:29 2:28 2:28.  My legs felt pretty tired during the run.  Tomorrow will be a planned off day and then easy miles Friday before the race on Saturday.

For anyone who still buys their own running shoes like me, Running Warehouse has an additional 20% off flats today.  I ordered another pair of Saucony Fastwich shoes for only $56.  They have several other flats for good prices, but I only paid attention to the Saucony Fastwich, because I knew what I wanted.  Follow this link if you're interested: http://www.runningwarehouse.com/mailings/120515liquidation20.html

Asics 2170 Miles: 8.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(6)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.540.000.000.003.54

3.54 miles @ 6:27 pace.  Nice and easy miles to loosen the legs up and get ready for tomorrow's race. I threw in a few strides at the end.  Legs feel good for the most part.  My goal is to run sub-1:09 tomorrow, and ideally closer to 1:08 flat.

I had a near minor catastrophe yesterday. I was helping my brother tear down some walls in his home as part of his remodel and I stepped on a nail.  It went through my shoe, but luckily was only long enough to touch my skin but not break skin.  That would've been bad.

Good luck to everyone racing at Ogden tomorrow.

Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 3.54
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Race: Ogden Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:08:45, Place overall: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.0013.100.0020.10

Got up well before the crack of dawn to head down and catch the bus for the Ogden Half Marathon.  I got off the bus up at the starting line with about 45 minutes to go.  I waited in a line for a port-a-pottie and then went for a two mile warmup.  I got done with the warmup and had about 15 minutes or so and I really felt strongly that I needed another visit to the port-a-pottie.  The lines were insane and I finally got my turn with like 2 minutes left until the start.  Then I sprinted over to the truck for the drop off bags, and then sprinted to the start line and made it with about 30 seconds to spare.  I was lucky to make it in time.

I lined up behind Scott Keate who graciously offered me his spot on the front line, but I told him I was fine and got out quick behind him.  My adrenaline was already flowing from almost missing the start and I proceeded to run Mile 1, the only mile with a large hill in it, in 5:07.  That was too fast, I planned on about 5:25-5:30 for that mile.  Oh well, so I settled down and reminded myself that 5:15-5:25 was fine on this portion of the course and time could be made up on the downhill canyon portion.  I was out in front by myself for the first three miles.  Miles 2 and 3 were 5:20 and 5:18.  As I approached mile 4 I heard footsteps behind me approaching rapidly.  And by the time I hit mile 4, Bryant Jensen had closed the gap and was now running alongside me.  My legs by this time just didn't have the normal spring in them that I've had in weeks past.  Mile 4 was 5:19 but felt much harder, despite being a downhill mile.

Right after mile 4 you enter the canyon and Mile 5 is a pretty steep downhill.  Not much interesting going on from here until Mile 9; Bryant and I stayed basically together the whole stretch here.  Miles 5-9 splits were 5:07 5:14 5:12 5:13 5:08.  I was hoping to average 5:05 on this stretch but my legs just didn't have it today.

At around 9.5 miles I threw in a surge, but Bryant not only covered it but continued it after I ended the surge.  By Mile 10 he was probably 10 seconds up on me.  Mile 10 split was 5:04. Now we're on the parkway and I was just holding on.  Bryant was increasing his lead and I kept feeling worse.  I never got any closer the rest of the way.  Miles 11-13 were 5:18 5:24 5:25 and 38 for the last tenth (which may be my slowest ever final tenth of a half).

The final time was still a good time for me.  I met my "B" goal for the race.  My "A" goal was sub-1:08 and my "B" goal was sub-1:09.  This was my fifth half marathon in seven weeks, and it definitely felt the worst.  Which is weird because I had more time to recover for this one, having not raced last week. 

Congrats to Bryant, he ran a stellar race and was tough today.  Scott also ran a fantastic race to finish third, he's really stepping it up!

After the race Scott and I cooled down back along the course to watch some of the marathon finishers come in.  Fritz was incredible today!  Overall I ended up jogging another 40 minutes after the race; a few minutes here and there watching family and friends finish the marathon.

It was great to see and talk to everyone today: Bryant, Scott, Fritz, Ben, Steve, etc.  Good job to everyone, it was fun.

Saucony Fastwich (Green) Miles: 15.10Asics 2170 Miles: 5.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(10)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.000.0011.75

11.75 miles around the base perimeter @ 6:10 avg pace.  Met Ken early before work to get in a long-ish run.  We ended up going faster than I planned, but I felt well enough.  There doesn't seem to be any lingering soreness or fatigue from the race.  My knee is bothering me a bit, which is troublesome since that's what put me out for two months in December.  So I'll have to monitor it closely and not overdo anything right now.  I did run with tape on my knee today and it seemed to help a bit.

Asics 2170 Miles: 11.75
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

8 miles @ 6:29 avg pace.  This morning's run ended up being essentially a Weber State Track reunion.  Met up with Ken, Bret, Dave, and Steve at the Riverdale Parkway at 5:45 for 8 easy miles.  It was good to get a nice group run together with  the guys.

Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 8.00
Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.000.002.503.5010.00

Track Workout

Got up early to hit the Hill Air Force Base Track before work.  I forgot how much I hate doing intervals here! It's always super windy.  And on Wednesdays there's like 50 airmen on the track who think it's ok to walk in lane one!

Anyway I managed ok.  The workout was:

4 x 1,000 w/1 min. rest (3:05, 3:07, 3:07, 3:06)

4 x 800 w/2 min. rest (2:26, 2:26, 2:26, 2:25)

4 x 400 w/1.5 min rest (68.5, 69.5, 67.8, 68.1)

4 x 200 w/1.5 min rest (31.1, 30.2, 30.7, 29.2)

2 mile warmup before with strides in the last half mile and 2 mile cooldown.

This was good but not great workout.  I think the wind and sharper curves on this particular track made the workout more difficult and hence I didn't run quite as quickly as I was hoping for.  But, this still gets the job done I suppose.

Saucony Fastwich (Green) Miles: 10.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.530.000.000.2511.78

AM: 7.53 miles @ 6:32 pace.  Met up with Dave at 6:45 to get in a few easy miles on the North Base loop.

Lunch: 4 miles easy @ 6:33 pace AND 4 all out 15-second sprints.  I can't say for sure how far the sprints were, since they were just on the road.  It felt good to get up to top speed.  Finished up with 7-minute ab workout.

Asics 2170 Miles: 4.25Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 7.53
Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.000.000.000.004.00

4 miles easy @ 6:32 pace.  My plans changed and I am going to go 20 tomorrow instead of 15.  So, in an effort to not jump my weekly mileage too high, I cut back to just four miles today.  Ended with 7 minutes of abs.

Last night, I contacted UVM race director and switched from the half marathon to the full.  This is a big deal for me, I've had very bad experiences at my marathon attempts.  But, I figure I need to get a good one under my belt and now is as good of a time as any.  The goal will be to run a good time, but not worry about place.  Anything under 2:30 would be fantastic for my marathon confidence (or lack thereof as of now).

Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(6)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.314.050.000.0021.36

21.36 miles @ 6:55 avg. pace.  Met up with Ben, Jon, and Bryant to do a long run.  Ben and Jon ran the first 13 or so with us at an easy 7:12 pace.  After they were done, Ken Richardson joined us and we picked the pace up a bit.  Threw in a 4-mile tempo run at 5:40 pace from 16-20.  This was a good run and my legs don't feel too bad from it.

Asics 2170 Miles: 21.36
Weight: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.000.000.009.50

72 minute trail run with Bryant.  We climbed quite a bit the first half and then came back down.  It's hard to say for sure how far it was, but we'll call it 9.5 miles.  Got home and did 8 minutes of abs.

Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 9.50
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.420.000.000.0012.42

AM: 9 miles easy @ 6:39 pace.  Met at Riverdale Parkway at 5:45 with Bret, Bryant, and Steve.  This is looking like it will be a weekly Tuesday morning group, which is good.

PM: 3.42 Miles @ 6:23 pace.  I didn't plan on a second run today.  But I finally gave in and bought a GPS watch (Garmin 610) last week and it arrived in the mail today.  So, I had to try it out right?  I even tried out the heart rate monitor.  I am not sure yet how often I will use it, but it's still nice to have.

Asics 2170 Miles: 9.00Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 3.42
Weight: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.723.002.000.0011.72

11.72 miles @ 6:05 avg. pace.  11-mile progression run followed by .72 cooldown.  Mile splits, using my new garmin :), were 7:07 6:47 6:39 6:30 6:18 6:09 5:52 5:35 5:24 5:11 4:53.  I felt pretty good.  I actually felt better on the second half of the run than on the first, slower half.  This is will probably be my last workout of this type of quality and quantity until after UVM next week.  I'll start to back things off a bit from this point until the race, get the legs feeling fresh.

Asics 2170 Miles: 11.72
Weight: 0.00
Comments(7)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.440.000.000.007.44

7.44 miles easy @ 7:06 pace. Ran the north loop on base. I had only one goal for this run, and that was to run slower than 7 min pace.  Mission accomplished.

Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 7.44
Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
202.6018.2534.2011.50266.55
Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 80.33Asics 2170 Miles: 111.13Saucony Fastwich (Green) Miles: 32.85
Weight: 0.00
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